Kon-Tiki, 2007

Kon-Tiki is the name of an Inca god and of the wooden raft on which the Norwegian adventurer Thor Heyerdahl completed a successful expedition in 1947. With it he proved that long-distance sea crossings, and hence contact between different cultures, had been technically feasible much earlier than was thought. In this painting, which is part of the series Souvenirs Exotiques, Tom Liekens (b. 1977, Bonheiden) combines elements from Western art history with Polynesian prototypes – which nowadays, unfortunately, we know and recognize as primarily kitsch, tourist imagery.